oon, in order that every living thing of every part of
the world might see it." [77] All will acknowledge that this is a very
beautiful allegory. How many in England, as well as in Ceylon, are
described by the monkey, the coot, and the fox--willing to bring
their God any oblation which costs them nothing; but how few are
like the hare--ready to present themselves as a living sacrifice, to be
consumed as a burnt offering in the Divine service! Those, however,
who lose their lives in such self-sacrifice, shall find them, and be
caught up to "shine as the brightness of the firmament and as the
stars for ever and ever."

Another version of this legend is slightly variant. Grimm says: "The
people of Ceylon relate as follows: While Buddha the great god
sojourned upon earth as a hermit, he one day lost his way in a wood.
He had wandered long, when a _hare_ accosted him: 'Cannot I help
thee? Strike into the path on thy right. I will guide thee out of the
wilderness.' Buddha replied: 'Thank thee, but I am poor and hungry,
and unable to repay thy kindness.' 'If thou art hungry,' said the hare,
'light a fire, and kill, roast, and eat me.' Buddha made a fire, and the
hare immediately jumped in. Then did Buddha manifest his divine
power; he snatched the beast out of the flames, and set him in the
moon, where he may be seen to this day." [78] Francis Douce, the
antiquary, relates this myth, and adds, "this is from the information
of a learned and intelligent French gentleman recently arrived from
Ceylon, who adds that the Cingalese would often request of him to
permit them to look for the hare through his telescope, and exclaim
in raptures that they saw it. It is remarkable that the Chinese
represent the moon by a rabbit pounding rice in a mortar. Their
mythological moon Jut-ho is figured by a beautiful young woman
with a double sphere behind her head, and a rabbit at her feet. The
period of this animal's gestation is thirty days; may it not therefore
typify the moon's revolution round the earth." [79]

[Illustration: moon08]

SAKYAMUNI AS A HARE IN THE MOON.
_Collin de Plancy's_ "_Dictionnaire Infernal_."

In this same apologue we have doubtless a duplicate, the original or
a copy, of another Buddhist legend found among the Kalmucks of
Tartary; in which Sakyamuni himself, in an early stage of existence,
had inhabited the body of a hare. Giving himself as food to feed the
hunger of a starving creature, he was immediately placed